SALLY’S ADVENTURES IN PUPPYLAND – 9 MONTHS OLD

It’s hard to believe that our beloved pet Theo has only been on this earth for nine months, and only seven of those with us. We have seen him grow and mature in leaps and bounds, and he is no longer the bewildered pup who bewildered us when he first entered our lives at 11 weeks of age.

Gone are the days of his indiscriminate biting for communication. Gone are the days of having to constantly watch that he doesn’t eat everything that he shouldn’t. (He still loves to chew on “strings” and textiles.) Gone are the gates we put up all around the house to keep him confined.

There are toys that no longer interest him. (Bye, bye eagle!)

There are certain foods that he no longer eats. (Bye, bye, bully sticks!) We have added blueberries, apples, bananas, peanut butter, potatoes, carrots, and peas to supplement his meal and/or for snacks.

He no longer naps in his crate. (Instead he sleeps on the rug, in his daybed, or on the couch while I work on the computer.)

He has the full run of the house, although we keep all the doors and closets closed because dollars for donuts, he will go into them and get into mischief! Normally he does stay quite close to me, but he also loves going down into the family room where my husband tends to hang out. It is also the place he first claimed as his when he was a pup.

He increasingly wants to sleep overnight on the bed, although I have to draw the line there, as my room is my sanctuary! (I know lots of people have their dogs sleep on their bed, but I’m simply not willing to go there (yet)! I can’t imagine that either Theo or I would get a good sleep, as I am a light sleeper plus I have bouts of insomnia that would no doubt keep him awake.

He is getting much better at amusing himself while I attend to other things, and sometimes I can even extend my work on the computer beyond his nap!

We still need to work on him biting my toes and trying to pull off my socks when he has to go out for potty! When he does this, I push his head away gently and if he doesn’t stop, I direct him over to the bells on the front door knob, which we are continuing to train him to ring when he has to go potty.

I have drastically cut down my TV watching partly because of accommodating his schedule and partly because he doesn’t like me sitting around and (to his mind) doing nothing! However, he doesn’t mind me watching TV when he sleeps. I also can carry on a phone conversation while he naps.

With temperatures reaching as low as -30C or even lower with the wind chill recently, we had to buy Theo a warmer jacket/parka. He wears it when temperatures dip below -20C. When it is colder than about -25C out, we limit our walk to around the block at most. Here he is in his new coat.

He is also getting more efficient about doing his business when it is super cold out—in the back yard so we don’t have to go far! But we still enjoy our walks when we can.

I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for regaining my writing career after losing hundreds of work hours taking care of our little puppy over the last seven months.It gives me hope that God has had a purpose and a plan for all this all along, even if I can’t see the big picture.